Shark bites Livermore teen at Maui beach

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By ABC7 Archive

SAN FRANCISCO

It was supposed to be relaxing vacation for the family, but now their 16-year-old daughter is nursing a shark bite wound to her calf.

The waters off Maui went from a scene of tropical paradise to medical emergency when a shark grabbed the leg of a 16-year-old Livermore girl. The wound was a three to five inch bite on her left calf. It happened while she was sitting in about two feet of water in front of the Hololani Resort in Lahaina. A different girl says she saw a shark off the beach the night before.

"It turned around and I saw just a dorsal fin and then my Mom yelled, 'shark' and so I sprinted up the beach really fast, as fast as I could," said Isla Dubendorf, a Washington state resident.

Officials in Hawaii think it was a reef shark that attacked the girl. Usually five to six feet long, the sharks often stay in the same shallow water. They're usually timid, but are known to mistake human legs for food.

"It was about five feet in length and then it was just like medium width. It was about a foot or two away from me and that's why I ran because I was really scared," said Dubendorf.

Fire crews patched her wound at the beach and her family then took the girl to get medical treatment.
Warning signs went up as officials alerted beach goers on land and by jet ski along the shoreline.

The plan was to keep that section of beach closed at least until sunset and then officials will decide what to do tomorrow.